sport.wikisort.org - Athlete

James E. Morgan (June 13, 1934 – September 29, 2019) was an American basketball player and race horse trainer.[1] He played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals and won a National Invitation Tournament (NIT) championship in 1956.[2] Morgan was selected by the Syracuse Nationals in the 1957 NBA draft but never played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a high school teacher and basketball coach in Ohio before he became a horse trainer in the mid-1960s. Morgan was one of Ohio's leading horse trainers over a 40-year career.

Jim Morgan

Personal information
Born	(1934-06-13)June 13, 1934 Hyden, Kentucky
Died	September 29, 2019(2019-09-29) (aged 85) Dayton, Ohio
Nationality	American
Listed height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Listed weight	175 lb (79 kg)
Career information
High school	Stivers (Dayton, Ohio)
College	Louisville (1953–1957)
NBA draft	1957 / Round: 2 / Pick: 15th overall
Selected by the Syracuse Nationals
Position	Guard
Coaching career	1957–1966
Career history
As coach:
1957–1966	Stebbins HS
Career highlights and awards
No. 12 jersey honored by Louisville Cardinals
Stats  at Basketball-Reference.com

Basketball career

Born in Hyden, Kentucky, he attended Stivers High School in Dayton, Ohio, and led the team to a No. 1 state ranking in the early 1950s.[1][3] Morgan opted to play for the Louisville Cardinals over offers from the Kentucky Wildcats and his hometown Dayton Flyers.[3][4] He scored 1,105 points in four seasons played with the Cardinals.[3] Morgan was selected by the Syracuse Nationals as the 15th overall pick in the 1957 NBA draft but opted to not sign with the team after they offered him a $5,000 contract.[5] He was a social studies teacher and basketball coach at Stebbins High School in Riverside, Ohio, for nine seasons.[1][4]

Race horse training career

Morgan resigned from Stebbins in 1966 so he could pursue a longtime dream and became a race horse trainer, which he had first become interested in when he worked as an usher at the Churchill Downs racetrack in 1953.[1][3][4][5] Morgan was one of the most successful Thoroughbred trainers in the Midwest and won over 300 stakes races to make him the winningest stakes trainer in Ohio.[2][5] His horses amassed 1,993 total wins and made earnings of $20.7 million from 1967 to 2008.[2] Morgan served as president of the Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, and a trustee in the Thoroughbred's Horsemen's Health Fund from 1998 until his death.[2] Morgan died of a heart attack in Dayton, Ohio.[2]

Honors

Morgan was inducted into the Louisville Cardinals Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981,[6] the Stivers Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006,[4] and the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.[7] He had his No. 12 jersey honored by the Louisville Cardinals and it hangs in the rafters of Freedom Hall.[3][4]

References

External links

• College statistics

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